OPEC, Allies Agree Not To Boost Oil Production

U.S. President Donald Trump has been calling publicly for OPEC to help lower prices by boosting production.

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OPEC, Allies Agree Not To Boost Oil Production

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Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major oil producers have agreed not to boost production despite U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for lower prices.

The decision came after OPEC members and nonmembers like Russia met on September 23 in Algeria.

OPEC said in a statement that it was satisfied "regarding the current oil-market outlook, with an overall healthy balance between supply and demand."

The price of oil has increased in recent months, mostly because a decline in oil exports from OPEC-member Iran due to fresh U.S. sanctions.

Trump has been calling publicly for OPEC to help lower prices by boosting production.

"We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!" Trump wrote on Twitter on September 20.

OPEC and Russia have capped production since January 2017 to increase prices.

Output fell below those targets this year, and in June the same countries agreed to boost the oil supply.